my great-grandmother brought the first two books from England for me as presents. I regret she's passed and I can't thank her enough for that. My parents remember seeing me reading on the floor, determined to read from cover to cover in a language I did not speak fluently at the time. I vaguely remember not understanding every word of it.

going to the market place in the port with my best friend and buying pens topped by big, brightly coloured feathers, and using them as quills

taking more "Hogwarts items" to school than I took actual school stationery

reading the word "Harry" or even "hurry", as in hurry up, in my textbooks and blushing a little

getting a toy Ford Anglia, the cutest little Hedwig toy and a Chamber of Secrets that came with slimy stuff for Christmas

coming to school in the greatest Gryffindor outfit - my mum spent all night hand-sewing a Gryffindor scarf for me. The night before, I had braided my hair in little plaits in order to look like Hermione when I woke up and undid them.

going with my friend and her sister to look for owls around her neighbourhood

reading Goblet of Fire by the edge of my bed one morning as Sandra cleaned around the house, eating biscuits, and reaching the end of the book and telling Sandra how happy I was to have gotten to the ending at last.

carrying around my copy of Goblet of Fire just about everywhere

reading my copy of The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter and obsessing over mandrakes, manticores, and Latin, even learning a few phrases like "your zipper is down".

going to the cinema for the premiere of Chamber of Secrets, not finding any seats and sitting in the front in the most uncomfortable area and still feeling completely starstruck and happy.

watching Order of the Phoenix with my dad and sister - after a long time, I decided to go to the toilet, unfortunately right when Sirius was killed.

watching Half Blood Prince with my friend Beatriz.

finding out about the rumour that Liam Aiken could play Harry Potter and freaking out!

concocting my own potions with my best friend, using the leaves and fruits in my back garden

playing in the first official Harry Potter website and cheating into being sorted into Gryffindor so that I could be with Harry Potter, even if I was eight and he would've been eleven at the time

re-reading Philosopher's Stone at the worst point of my eating disorder, and gaining a new kind of faith in the books

starting the school year by re-reading Half Blood Prince, and then re-starting the whole series all over again. At one point whilst reading Goblet of Fire, I found crumbs from the same biscuits I was eating the first time I read the book!

pretending to speak parseltongue

not paying any attention in Chemistry class as I was reaching the end of Deathly Hallows for the millionth time

at some lookalike contest in school, in eighth grade or so, I participated as Luna's lookalike and lost over a guy who rightfully deserved his award as he was undeniably identical to Shrek's Prince Charming

and again, in twelfth grade, going as Luna, this time in full, elaborate costume, and winning over someone who had even got her hair cut to look like some celebrity

going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - first, seeing the top of the towers from afar, feeling I could never get close enough until I reached the gates and cried, and thus began a fantastic, magical day.

reading alone in school whilst everyone had lunch in the lunch room, with my feet dangling from the gaps of the metal bars enclosing the open-air corridors. Somehow, feeling I was part of that world gave me courage to eat my lunch and come out of my shell very slowly.

watching A Very Potter Musical with my sister and making references to it at least once a day for months

going to the pre-premieres of the last two films with my mother dressed up as Luna and carrying probably half a dozen packs of tissues, there to help me finish one of the last important rituals in my life - then, getting home at half three in the morning only to go to school the day after and being welcomed by my horse-faced chemistry teacher who whined about my manicured Harry Potter nails.

another crazy teacher who pulled my copy of Chamber of Secrets away from me in a fit of fury and confiscated it until my mum spoke to her